March 31 (Bloomberg) -- Lung cancer in women fell for the
first time as the rate of all cancers in the U.S. declined from
2003 to 2007, according to a report from the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.

The drop in women’s lung cancer occurred more than 10 years
after a similar decline in men. Overall, new cancer diagnoses
decreased by about 1 percent a year in the period, according to
the report published in the Journal of the National Cancer
Institute. New childhood cases rose while death rates fell.

The death rate from the disease began falling in the early
1990s because of improvements in early detection, prevention and
treatment, the study authors said. The Atlanta-based CDC said on
March 11 that the number of people living with cancer increased
to 11.7 million in 2007, the highest number ever.

“It is gratifying to see the continued steady decline in
overall cancer incidence and death rates in the United States,”
said Harold Varmus, the director of the National Cancer
Institute, in a statement accompanying the data.

In men, the rates declined for lung, colon, mouth, stomach,
and malignant brain cancers while they rose for kidney,
pancreas, and liver tumors, and skin melanoma. In women, cancer
of the breast, lung, colon, uterus, cervix, bladder and mouth
all dropped, while kidney, pancreas and thyroid cancers all
rose, as did leukemia and melanoma.